One was the boy who had appeared recently on Planet Omega. They used to have various reasons to keep an eye on him, but now there was only one.

To make him stronger.

They watched his progress as though they were completely unfeeling, but if that was truly the case, then they wouldn't have shown him the small amount of bias that they did.

"There he goes. Finally out of the house," one of them said.

"Looks like his old habit of staring at the pictures on the wall is going to stay with him here," the other replied.

"Indeed."

"When do you think he's going to suffer the side effects of the energy extraction and synchronization?"

"Should be half an hour at most."

"Agreed. Since he's a high-energy being, he should be able to handle a significant loss of energy before losing consciousness."

A being of high energy. That's indeed what this boy was. An existence from a universe in a higher state of energy than their current one. Of course, bringing him here took a lot of energy as well. But as the saying goes; it takes money to make money. Bringing him here was a worthwhile investment.

"Right, what should we do about the infiltration?"

The infiltration they had dubbed "the anomaly". Although this breach could threaten the entire universe, the development of the boy on Planet Omega was almost equally as important, which is why they had s.h.i.+fted their focus for a moment. Although, "s.h.i.+fted" wasn't really the right word. Since these two existences could mult.i.task to a frightening degree, they could focus on many tasks at once with a degree of concentration equal - no, greater - than that of someone who was devoted to one task.

"One of the signatures has been confirmed. It's 1D6FE. The other one is still unknown, and is most likely a threat. Most likely one of the Nines."

"Shall we aid 1D6FE?"

"It's most likely unnecessary. 0396 deserves some more attention at the moment."

1D6FE was the most capable individual in Clan X. It deserved to be the next heir to the clan's throne. Although not 100% flawless, if there was an issue anywhere, 1D6FE would most likely compute a solution the quickest.

"Look at that. He noticed the border of the simulated s.p.a.ce and gave up."

"It's uncertain whether he's super sensitive, or extremely lazy. Most likely the latter."

Indeed, the boy nicknamed "0396" always had a track record of being lazy and carefree. There were several measures in place here to hopefully correct that behavior. One of which was a relatively powerful monster on the edge of the simulated s.p.a.ce. However, things did not go as planned. Fortunately, there was a plan B.

"Let's sic one Charged Rabbit on him to see how he reacts."

"Understood."

A rabbit is one of the most common monsters in the universe. Even though it was an animal found commonly on Earth, it was still referred to as a "monster" here due to the implementation of the Operator. A standard rabbit acts exactly like it does on Earth. More than 99 percent of all rabbits are ordinary. However, they can be infused with elemental fuel. Once this happens, they undergo a fundamental transformation. In fact, any monster can be infused with elemental fuel. Every monster is born naturally with at least a little bit. After infusing any monster with a critical ma.s.s of fuel, they go berserk. Although a Charged Rabbit wasn't a fairly strong monster, it was unique in the fact that it could handle a proportionally large amount of charge in its berserk state. So much so that its threat level was undetermined unless it was measured.

They decided to send in a Charged Rabbit with only a slight bit more elemental fuel than a normal rabbit could handle. In common language of the universe, it was a threat level of G.

"At least it looks like his senses haven't grown too complacent. Perhaps the eerie version of the old neighborhood kept him on edge."

0396 appeared to notice the nearby monster. However, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

"How foolish. However, I admit that if I were in his place, I would react similarly. There is no logical explanation for a rabbit on Earth to launch an unsolicited attack. However, he must remember that he is not on Earth any longer."

"..."

"What is it, 03B5?"

If the existence known as 03B5 had a physical form, it would appear to be holding some words back.

"It's nothing."

"I know you were hesitant about this, but it's the optimal method. Why haven't you left your emotions behind?"

"..."

03B5 was speechless once again. After a brief pause, it responded.

"Of course I have. I was simply considering whether or not there was a route with less physical pain involved. A route that is equally optimal, of course."

"We've already considered it multiple times to no avail. Are you malfunctioning? Do I need to report this issue?"

"No."

"Regardless, looks as if, despite a minor injury, he was successfully able to defend himself. But once again, he made a major mistake by not confirming the kill. He's got a long way to go. Let's leave him alone for now. He's about to pa.s.s out."

"Are we going to send more at him while he's unconscious?"

"Of course not. That wouldn't do anybody any good."

Despite the earlier prediction of half an hour until his loss of consciousness, due to blood loss, this event already pa.s.sed.

"Reverse the time dilation. Also, let's get rid of that rabbit so he doesn't get chewed up in an important process."

The simulated s.p.a.ce was currently under a heavy time dilation for multiple reasons. Time was slowed to a crawl. However, neither of them was willing to properly wait until 0396 regained consciousness. Therefore, they undid some of the dilation. But they still had to wait for a few seconds.

During the wait, silence resounded, save for the countless number of system notifications provided by the Operator.

To break the silence, 03B5 asked another question.

"By the way, what should we do about Jie?"

"I don't know. According to orders, he's trustworthy and deserves his current position. I'm not exactly sure what they see in him. We should probably leave him alone.

"Look, he's waking up. Let's teach him the importance of confirming a kill. We're sending in six of them this time; make them slightly stronger."

Six slightly stronger opponents of similar stature. This time, the threat level is a grade higher - a threat level of F. Threat levels of separate grades are fundamentally different - two objects with varied threat levels are no match for each other. In other words, the strength of this new caravan of rabbits is on a completely different level from the singular rabbit from earlier.

"He's surrounded. Let's see how he deals with this. Although it'll be possible for him to win, one big mistake and it'll be all over."

Amidst the sea of system notifications, one in particular resounded clearly to these two beings of the virtual s.p.a.ce.

「Ent.i.ty 0396X leveled up!」

"He took it out in a single hit? Looks like he's not holding back. He finally gets to use his skill set for a reasonable purpose. When are you going to punch something as hard as possible on Earth?"

「Ent.i.ty 0396X leveled up!」

"Truly not bad. Being able to level up twice even in this tough situation is admirable, especially since he just got here. But it looks like he made a mistake."

"Yes. In fact, I believe that... It would be more surprising if he were to survive that onslaught. But he sure is resilient."

"Even after being torn apart to that level, he's still alive."

"Let's terminate the simulation."

"We shouldn't do that until his life force is completely gone. It shouldn't be too much longer now, 03B5."

After waiting for a few more seconds, the event they were waiting for came to pa.s.s. A spirit, a culmination of aura, could be seen completely detached from the physical body.

"Alright. Temporarily place his soul under stasis and reset the simulation. Hopefully he takes life a little more seriously this time. Oh, and let's leave another message for him."

"Understood."